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The applicant should normally be engaged in a programme of research as a postgraduate student or postdoctoral fellow or be employed in an institution of a COST country having accepted the MoU of the Action. This institution shall be actively participating in the COST Action.

Grantees must make their own arrangements for all health, social, personal security and pension matters.

Home and Host institutions

The home and host institutions can be public or private.

A STSM may only be approved:

- from a home institution in a COST participating country to a host institution in another COST participating country or to a formally approved host institution in a non-COST country.

- from a formally approved home institution in a Near Neighbour country to a host institution in a COST participating country.

STSMs between different Actions may be considered by the MCs of both Actions.

The Applicant is responsible for obtaining the agreement of the host institution, before submitting his/her application.

Duration

The duration of a STSM shall be minimum of one week (5 working days) and maximum of 3 months.

Financial support

The financial support is a contribution to the costs of a STSM and may not necessarily cover all the costs in each case. The grant should normally cover only travel and subsistence.

The financial contribution for a STSM will be a fixed grant based on the Applicant's budget request and the evaluation of the application by the STSM assessment committee. The total for a STSM shall normally not exceed EUR 2000. Indicative values for the requested amount for daily allowance and travel expenses are respectively of 60 EUR and 300 EUR although there is no strict limit maximum on these.

An advance payment may be made only in exceptional circumstances and will require additional special justification.

Applications must be submitted before the deadline stipulated by the Steering Committee (Chairman, Vice-Chairman, STSM coordinator and the 4 WG leaders).

The application together with the SC approval should be sent to the Grant Holder and respect the deadline set by the Grant Holder.

Assessment

The assessment of the STSM applications will be carried out by the SC which will take into account both the scientific impact for the Action and the budget. The STSM coordinator will then inform the Grant Holder of the successful evaluated proposals.

The Grant Holder will subsequently inform the successful applicants by sending them a Grant letter with an official approval of the STSM application, a "Payment request" (to be completed after the completion of the STSM) and the level of the financial grant given. The applicant has to notify acceptance of the grant by returning the letter with his/her signature.

After the STSM

If the applicant can attend the WG meeting following his/her STSM, he/she will be asked to present the results obtained during their visit at the host institution.

If the results from a STSM are published in a journal, please add the following acknowledgement in your paper:

Part of this work was supported by the COST Action MP1104 "Polarization as a tool to study the Solar System and beyond".